Frankie Bogg

Within my peer review I will be reviewing William Clarke’s Blog post on his styling workshop outcomes and personal reflection.  I was drawn to this blog as I thought the outcomes were extremely successful and told a clear narrative from his influences from the Better Lives themes. Will had two outcomes, one of which that I found very successful as the message and meaning behind it was extremely clever, and linked clearly and precisely within the theme sustainability. Here I am talking about the first outcome with the green python style trench coat that has been styled in multiple forms. The idea of this trench coat being styled in multiple ways shows sustainability within itself, clearly showing a garment doesn’t just have one use if you think creatively about it. The idea of also having endless possibilities also comes through within these styled looks, as a styling student myself I love this idea of never ending styling possibilities.  Clarke, W. 2020 quoted ‘ Essentially here I am proposing that the life of a garment does not end when lime python trenches are no longer in fashion, rather I am suggesting playing more and reinvent – it’s just fabric!’ 

In Will’s second outcome, he has responded to the current situation, by creating a styled look through FaceTime. Styling with what the model had to hand gave this shoot a D.I.Y look, which I found very successful as it’s creates a perfect narrative for the current unprecedented time. The retro 80’s look that it carried also gave the shoot an interesting mood and aesthetic. Instead of a glossy perfectly styled editorial image, I find the facetime grainy look shows the distance between the stylist and the model which responds perfectly to this current COVD situation. 

Overall, I feel that Will has reflected greatly on his Better Live studies, and created very effective outcomes within his styling practice. Will’s blog was extremely interesting to read and it was a very positive outcome on his introductory to Styling. 

Regarding personal development, I have found that the Better Lives unit has given me the opportunity to develop skills in something new. I chose to do Contemporary portrait Photography, by choosing this course I have been able to develop technical skills such as lighting and making the most out of your camera, as well as how to master my own style within photography. I have also been introduced to a range of photographers, fashion based to documentary based, giving me wider variety of creative sources to use within my practices as a stylist. 

Throughout this unprecedented time I feel that Contemporary Portrait photography was a great course to do as I have realised how important it is to stay creative at home, whether its taking documentary style photographs of the so called ‘groundhog’ day occurring at the moment, or being experimental with self portraits. I have found it has given me great time to find out what my style is and experiment with it always while keeping the Better Lives themes in mind.

For me, the theme social responsibility has influenced my work positively; right now especially I find it very important. As it is our social responsibility to keep into contact with our loved ones during this hard time and keep connected with our friends through face time or other means of digital social interaction. I also find that theme of social responsibility links in with a wider issue at the moment, being responsible for our NHS, and keeping the real heroes safe and protected.

For my final outcome within my photography course, I decided to focus on producing a range of three portraits being; a self-portrait, a portrait of someone within the house, and a portrait of someone not here. By having limited resources I found that it actually made me be more creative with my outcomes and creating an emotional story within them all. By taking a photograph of my best friend through face time it shows the distance between us right now physically and emotionally. I feel that inner conflict is shown throughout this image as there is obviously a feeling of fun and playfulness which we are wishing to be experiencing together physically, however we have had to compromise through a screen. I was heavily inspired by Bella Hadid’s 2020 shoot for Vogue Italia over face time for this portrait.  I think this theme of inner conflict runs throughout all of my portraits. I experimented with mirrors during my own self-portrait, as I believe it created a depth, and a forever-ongoing feel to it, which relates heavily to the current time.

Overall, my personal development has been extremely positive throughout Better Lives, learning new skills while taking the themes into context and letting them influence my ways of working.

Within my experience of studying the unit – ‘Better lives’, the theme that has stood out to me the most has been ‘Diversity.’ This is because I find the specific theme of cultural appreciation very interesting. Therefore I have chosen to speak about how the lecture- Representation by Teleica Kirkland has influenced my way of working within my contemporary portrait photography project.

Telecia started off by talking about what diversity actually is and I think this was a really interesting thing to break down and understand before talking about it within a fashion context. Telecia then went on to speak about why it is necessary, followed by cultural appropriation. Telecia used the quote ‘The definition of cultural appropriation is the use of one culture’s symbols, artefacts, genres, rituals, or technologies by members of another culture – regardless of intent, ethics, function, or outcome.’ – Richard. A. I think the key phrase here is ‘the use’, by using one cultures symbols or rituals etc. we have to do this appropriately and with knowledge. Within the fashion industry there are repeat offenders at using other cultural artefacts for their own ‘aesthetic’ or style. One being Marc Jacobs, especially within their SS16 show where the models wore large prosthetic dreadlocks as headpieces for ‘style’ without any acknowledgement of cultural or historical context to the appropriated culture.

After being educated about large fashion brands failure to use other cultures symbols, genres or artefacts appropriately so they can call themselves ‘diverse’, I looked into cultural appropriation within fashion photography as that Is the current course I am studying within better lives. I found a photo shoot that had been done in 2017 on i-D’s website by Thalia Gochez really inspiring and it influenced my idea of diversity within photography. Thalia explored cultural appropriation and the effects of gentrification within her photo shoot of ‘portraits of women of colour living in San Francisco as a way to highlight their lack of representation in the media.’ – i-D. Originally studying FSP (Fashion Styling and Production) myself as a styling student found the fact that fashion trends were being stolen from communities such as these women of colour without being acknowledged very disturbing, and this really influenced my way of thinking when practicing my styling and when taking photographs in my cotemporary portrait project.

Overall, the theme diversity within Better Lives has really influenced my way of researching into a culture’s artefacts and appreciating it not only just for its aesthetics but for its history and heritage also; as well as using it appropriately within my photography, and my styling practice.

REFERENCES:

https://i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/ywk95x/this-photographer-is-exploring-cultural-appropriation-and-the-effects-of-gentrification

Roger, R. A. (2006) – From Cultural Exchange to Transculturation: A Review and Reconceptualization of Cultural Appropriation

Lorraine Gamman’s lecture on Empathy within Fashion made me appreciate that fashion can be a voice to vulnerable people. Gamman started off the lecture by showing us that empathy is “The art of stepping imaginatively into the shoes of another person, understanding their feelings and perspectives and using that understanding to guide your actions.” Roman Krznaric (2014) Empathy: A Handbook for Revolution. Rider: Ebury Publishing.

Gamman having a PHD in shoplifting gave us an insight into how her knowledge on empathy for criminals has influenced her design within the creative world. Educating us that people mostly empathise with people that they are similar to as they can relate to them. For me the people I have most empathy for are the ones that are unfortunate in life and become vulnerable, for example the homeless… therefore when Gamman spoke about the EMPWR coat and how the homeless were given the chance to design a coat and earn money from the job, this was a great way of showing how empathy can be a positive effect in the fashion industry. Another example of empathy being shown within the fashion industry was Alexander McQueen’s 1995 Highland Rape Collection displaying the torn clothes of bruised models down the catwalk. For me this is a very effective way of portraying empathy within the design world and I adore the boldness of McQueen’s actions to show reality. There is endless examples to show how designers use their creative positions to create empathic fashion.  

Not only is empathy used within the fashion industry, it is also used within day to day life and how we can connect as humans through empathy. One example Gamman gave us was the project ‘A mile in my shoes’ in 2015. The museum of empathy created this experience, it allowed visitors to literally wear someone else’s shoes and wear headphones and walk a mile wearing someone else’s life. Listening to the stories provided and walking within their shoes, formed connections between the person who owned the shoes and the person walking in them for a mile. This whole idea was to promote empathetic understanding between diverse groups within society. In my opinion this is a very creative way of forming connections between individuals, having a creative mindset myself, the shoes as a visual aspect of someone else’s life would help me empathise and connect with this experience on a more personal level. Another example of how creatives use empathic mindsets was when Gamman herself conducted an experiment at Central Saint Martin’s using a replica of a prison cell to drive her students to create empathic products / furniture for prisoners inside these cells. 

Overall, as a practicing fashion stylist myself, this has positively influenced me to use empathy to connect with the people I am working with, as I believe it creates very positive outcomes and really can give a voice to vulnerable people and create better lives.